Across the Universe

Julie Taymor's paean to the 1960s Across the Universe—a high-concept musical drama incorporating over 30 Beatles songs—displays a grand visual sense in the service of a banal story. Set during the mid-‘60s, the tale finds artistically-inclined British dockworker Jude (Jim Sturgess)—who longs to escape the social and cultural confines of his small coastal village—traveling to America in search of his estranged father. After finding his wayward parent working as a janitor at Princeton University, Jude befriends free-spirited student Max (Joe Anderson) and eventually falls in love with Max's sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), a sheltered high-school girl whose boyfriend loses his life in the Vietnam War. Settling into lower Manhattan, Jude adapts to a bohemian lifestyle, and struggles to maintain his relationship with Lucy, who has become an anti-war activist, while Max is drafted. Naming her principal characters after people mentioned in Beatles songs enables Taymor to weave those tunes into the narrative with relative ease, but in the end her movie is hamstrung by its over-reliance on the music, especially during the second half, when Across the Universe essentially degenerates into a string of music videos (albeit creatively staged and beautifully designed). Optional. [Note: DVD extras on this two-disc “deluxe edition” include an audio commentary (by director Julie Taymor and music producer/composer Elliot Goldenthal), eight extended musical performances (35 min.), production featurettes on “Creating the Universe” (29 min.), “Stars of Tomorrow” (27 min.), “All About the Music” (18 min.), “Moving Across the Universe” (10 min.), and “FX on the Universe” (7 min.), two alternate takes from “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” (5 min.), a brief deleted scene, a photo gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a visually impressive if somewhat narratively slim musical.] (E. Hulse)